NATIONAL HUMANITIES CONFERENCE (HumanitiesCon2021) July 28-30, 2021
CONFERENCE THEME: Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences Scholarship for a New Era
The historical role of the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences in enacting multifaceted platforms to interrogate and debate the elusive and desirable challenge of humanity and society is self-evident. These disciplines have been critical in the study of individual responsibility, ideal citizenship and polity. By fostering critical thought and debate, they celebrate and interrogate societal commonalities and differences of what constitutes an ideal polity in spite of the numerous challenges and afflictions that are characteristic of human society.
It is unsurprising that the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences have been at the heart of Makerere University’s mandate of knowledge production since the introduction of Social and Historical Studies in the mid-1940s and the East African Institute of Social Research in 1948. This is attested to by the political leaders and eminent scholars that the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has nurtured and produced over time. They include Julius Nyerere, Milton Obote, Mwai Kibaki, Benjamin Mkapa, Oginga Odinga, Okot p’Bitek, Ali Mazrui, David Rubadiri, Nuruddin Farah, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, and John Ruganda, among others. These trained leaders and scholars embraced their generational obligation of delineating the direction of the newly liberated continent.
Today, Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences scholars have the inevitable challenge of deploying requisite tools and methods to grapple with global challenges such as climate change, terrorism, mass migration, technological development, inequality, governance, migration, poverty, environmental degradation and pandemics, among others. For example, the recent emergence of COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the efficacy of the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences in multidisciplinary approaches, where epidemiologists need expert communicators and social workers, among others, to meaningfully engage with potentially unprecedented global socio-health challenges. The rise of these challenges and their widespread impact on humanity remind us of the inescapable necessity of Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences in building resilience and innovative mitigating strategies, if humanity is to survive.
Therefore, the purpose of this conference is to centre debates and discussions on how the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences can critically grapple with challenges in the era of globalisation, decolonisation, technological advancement and novel global pandemics. The scholars at this conference will seek to reimagine how these disciplines can contribute towards repositioning and re-centring the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences in debates on key global and national challenges.
For further information and inquiry, please write to: Dr Aisha Sembatya Nakiwala or Dr Levis Mugumya at graduate.college2019@gmail.com Tel: +256-414-531909
Note: Due to the uncertainties which come with COVID-19, we plan for a hybrid HumanitiesCon2021, which will enable both on-site and on-line participation.
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